


argentiferous

by ghostwit



Category: One Piece
Genre: Character Study, Gen, M/M, Pre-Canon, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:02:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25430581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostwit/pseuds/ghostwit
Summary: (bearing silver)“Silvers,” Roger says abruptly, turning to meet the older man head on. Odd, Rayleigh was almost sure he’d forgotten his name in his time aboard, especially with him not having mentioned it during their first meeting, and he’s about to make a quip in regards to that when Roger’s mouth parts again, hard and acute. “What are youdoing?”
Relationships: Gol D. Roger & Silvers Rayleigh, Gol D. Roger/Silvers Rayleigh, Pretty platonic but can be read romantic.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	argentiferous

Rayleigh laughs, something low and drifting, the lap of evening tide against gently sloping beach. It's small talk, something at which Rayleigh excels, charming and smooth, pushing buttons and pulling forth laughter of barmates with ease, but Roger's not smiling, cheek set on to rest on his folded hands. It’s one of the first moments of quiet since he’s stepped aboard the boat--not that he’s particularly talkative, no, but his presence seems to carry a jolly ring to it, boots trundling hard enough to make water slosh in cheerful waves against the sides of Rayleigh’s boat, wood ringing out with the shifting of weight when he wrings his hands in glee. Rayleigh takes notice of course, always does, but doesn’t let it stop him, taking another long pull from his flask to ease the way the words spill and drip like oil. 

“Silvers,” Roger says abruptly, turning to meet the older man head on. Odd, Rayleigh was almost sure he’d forgotten his name in his time aboard, especially with him not having mentioned it during their first meeting, and he’s about to make a quip in regards to that when Roger’s mouth parts again, hard and acute. “What are you _doing ?”_

Rayleigh stops, whiskey still burning a path down his throat. The blood in his body seems to take the cue, freezing cold and leaving him stiff, if only for a brief moment. He can feel every bruise he’s ever gotten thrumming under his skin, every pass of the blade against his ribs and hips and arms and ankles, can feel all his past bedfellows raking nails down the lines of his spine and their every pitied word and hushed whisper as he rises in the morning to set himself adrift again, all those tinkling, charmed laughs he’d earned himself over the years. 

(That's the point, isn't it? The steel tower, the silver man, giving with ease, with unparalleled composure, rootless and spiraling? Rayleigh doesn't know what to do with the anger settling in his gut--and flashing across his face, if he were to hazard a guess-with a _plunk_ and a _hiss_ , like a hot coal in water; He's far too intelligent to avoid the haunting shadow of acute self-awareness.)

He deliberately manages half a snort, breath puffing hard from his nose, running his tongue up the corner of his mouth before letting it duck back in. He drops his head onto his hand, curls fingers around his chin so he can feel the abrupt drag of his nails against the delicate skin of his cheek before he reaches between the two of them, offering Roger his flask. The man takes it with that grin of his returned, downs the entirety of its contents in one gulp. Seems that was the right response. 

(The flash of teeth in that smile, glint of bone, Rayleigh in his early teens and meandering down a stretch of forgotten beach. Whale bones, he thinks they were, stretching up into the white light so it felt like they stretched right into heaven, pure against the dark sands. He’d walked right in between them, stared into the sun as it sat right between those arcing lines--just lines, no body, like someone had taken a brush to Rayleigh’s reality and crossed it leucochroic. Sat there until the sun set, let the shadow of those bones run parallel lines down the length of his folded body. The feeling of something greater than yourself, digested by it, resting and carving out your livelihood inside of it.)

He slides his fingers up, presses them in until he can see color splashing up against the inside of his eyelids, sighing as Roger wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He can see the wet smear of saliva and alcohol on the back of his warm hand, shiny in the sun as it dips lower, lower into the sky. 

They watch it sink, wordless, Roger shifting closer across the tarp that cushions the back deck until their knees brush with every shifting exhale. His hair splays dark across his shoulders, thick and decadent, and the setting sun paints the warmth of his skin, light rounding off on the curve of his nose. Blinding. His eyes are shielded by the low brim of his hat. 

“And what,” Rayleigh clucks his tongue, dry in his mouth, “are _you_ doing?” 

Roger guffaws, and Rayleigh can feel the bottle at his hip jolt and shudder with the motion. “That one’s easy!” He leans back, lets his wrists flop over the edge of the staircase when he rolls back onto his elbows, looks Rayleigh dead-on. “I told you, we’re going to turn the world upside down!” He pins him in his stare. Never before in his life has Rayleigh felt this desire to be known, to be understood, with the way Roger peels his skin from the muscle and the muscle from the bone. 

_We._ Rayleigh, with a knowing chuckle, lets himself be swallowed by the beast.

**Author's Note:**

> I know they only introduce themselves as Roger / Rayleigh respectively so there's some (?) about whether or not Silvers is like. a chosen name or not, and, also... Roger being uppity rather than secretive about that D. but like. Strokes chin. Just thought I'd use Silvers on account of taking him out of his comfort zone. Oka, lol, overthinking a really minor detail there. Just. MANY Rayleigh thoughts in my brain. 
> 
> Perhaps a part one of many =_= PERHAPS.
> 
> Please leave a comment or anything if you have any thoughts! I always, always, always love to hear absolutely anything, mwah.
> 
> hazeism.tumblr.com


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